google-site-verification: google82af41cbbb927c7d.html Grove Creek Family History: June 2015

Mt. Timpanogos Temple, photo by Rick Satterfield, used with permission

Monday, June 29, 2015

DNA and Genealogy...A Match Made in Heaven?

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Paul Woodbury is a new presenter at the FEEFHS conference this year. I thought that we should get to know him a little more before the conference. He will be talking to us about genetics and DNA in genealogy. I’m excited to have him answer my burning question—”I’ve done some DNA testing, now what?”
Memorizing all of the capitals of the world and being able to draw each nation’s flag from memory by the 2nd grade combined with a family history binder from his grandma led Paul Woodbury to his love of family history. A pedigree chart showing ancestors from France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, England, and Isle of Man caught his attention.
Throughout his school years, Paul researched his own family. He started as a collector of names, dates, and places. After that came stories, biographies, and photos. As a junior in high school, Paul organized a family history tour through Denmark and Southern Sweden, visiting the places where many of his Scandinavian ancestors lived.
Paul’s introduction to genetic genealogy came in 2006, when PBS aired the television series African American Lives. In the program, Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. investigated the family histories of prominent African Americans using traditional research in tandem with genetic genealogy. Paul said that “I was fascinated by this application of genetics to a field I loved, and I decided I wanted to become a genetic genealogist.”
Paul studied genetics at Brigham Young University between the years 2008-2014. He also minored in Family History. In his genetic studies, Paul found that most of his genetics professors “didn’t know what to do with me.” In the end, most of Paul’s genetic genealogy education was self-taught or through the mentoring of other prominent genetic genealogists like Angie Bush and CeCe Moore.
Paul taught for three years at the BYU Family History lab, offering weekly classes on various topics. He developed syllabus materials on genetic genealogy for use by the family history professors. Paul participated in a genealogy study abroad to France, Spain, and Italy. During the course of the trip, he toured and/or researched in nearly 30 archives including the Archivo Militar de Segovia (Military Archive of Segovia), the Real Chancilleria de Valladolid (The Royal Chancellery of Valladolid), the Archivo Storico di Firenze (Historical Archive of Florence), and the Archivo Segretto Vaticano (The Secret Vatican Archive).
While still at BYU, Paul began presenting at various conferences on genetic genealogy, French research, and other methodology topics. To date, he has presented at more than 20 local, national, and international conferences.
Genetics and family history aren’t the only loves in Paul’s life. He will be married in October 2015 to Robin Ellis. His favorite food is pumpkin cheesecake. He also enjoys good food, skiing, singing and dancing.

Friday, June 19, 2015

FEEFHS (Foundation for Eastern European Family History Studies)

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We are pleased to have Diane Afoumado return this year as our opening plenary keynote speaker.
Diane Afoumado, Ph.D., Chief, International Tracing Service (ITS) Research Branch, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum will share information with us about the records of the ITS (International Tracing Service) and how they can help us in our research.
Although connected with the Holocaust Memorial Museum, these records may be of interest to anyone who may have relatives who were persecuted by the Nazi’s or displaced during WWII, Jewish or non-Jewish.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in Washington, D.C. is the United States’ repository for the International Tracing Service (ITS) collection. According to Afoumado, the “ITS collection contains diverse information about the persecution and murder of Jews and non-Jews—Poles, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Soviet prisoners of war, Roma and Sinti, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and persons with disabilities—under Nazi rule.”
For more information about Diane and the FEEFHS Conference, go to feefhs.org.

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Do You Have Ancestors From Eastern Europe?

This conference is for you!
FEEFHS.org
Take a look at the conference overview here. As a personal statement, I started going to this conference two years ago because I was stumped with my Lithuanian heritage. When I went to this conference, I realized that "I didn't know what I didn't know!" This conference gave me the start of a great foundation upon which to build. I found that I was building without out a firm foundation. Are you?

Copyright 2013 by Rayanne Brunski Melick,
All Rights Reserved.